Assessment of nutritional status

Converting measurements to indices

An index is a combination of two or more raw measurements or one measurement plus the person's age. Some of the indices are discussed below

A. Height for age (H/A) is an index used for stunting (chronic malnutrition in children). Stunting is defended as a low height for age of the child compared to the standard child of the same age. Stunted children have poor physical and intellectual performance and lower work out put leading to lower productivity at the individual level and poor socioeconomic development at the community level. Stunting is an indicator of poor socioeconomic development at the community level.

B. Weight for height (W/H) is an index used for assessing wasting, which indicates recent or current acute malnutrition. It is a good indicator of short-term malnutrition.

C. Wasting is a low weight for the height of the child compared to the standard child of the same height. Wasted children are vulnerable to infection and stand a greater chance of dying.

D. Weight for age (W/A) is an index used in growth monitoring for assessing children who may be underweight. You assess weight -for-of all children less than two years old when you carry out your community -based nutrition (C.B.N) activities every month.

Table 3.1: Indicators Derived From Weight for Age and Weight for Height Growth Measurements and Their Cut of Point

What are the indicators for diagnosing sever acute malnutrition?

Indicators for SAM are a child with a standard deviation less than 3 (less than 70% of the normal weight expected for a child of a similar age) and or pitted bilateral oedema. If one of these sign is detected, the child is suffering from SAM.

What standard deviation (SD) mean? Is a measure showing how much variation there is the mean average number in a set of values .so low standard deviation shows that the value in a set is not spread out very far from the mean. The more variation there is, the higher standard deviation.

Anthropometric measurements used to assess body composition

In the assessment of the body composition, the body is considered to be made of two compartments that are the fat mass and fat-free mass. Therefore different measurements are used to assess these two compartments.

Measurement of fat mass (fatness)

Body mass index (BMI) is the weight of a person in kilogramme divided by their height in meters squired. Anon pregnant adult is considered to have a normal BMI when it falls between 18.5-and 25 kg/meter squired. If an adult person has a BMI of less than 16 kg/ m2, they will not be able to do much physical work because they will have poor energy stores. Also they will be at increased risk of infection due to low immunity. The risk of mortality and morbidity is related to the nutritional status as assessed by the BMI. If peoples are too fat or too thin, their health is suffering.

\(Body\ mass\ index\ (BMI)\ = \frac{Weight\ in\ kilogramme}{Height\ in\ meter\ squired} \)

Classification of overweight, obesity and normal BMI